Musical instrument



PATENTED UGT. 20, 1863I W, BVS.

MESAL NSTELUMENT.

In Van/7);

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VILLIAM DAVIS, OF TAMAQUA, PENNSYLVANIA.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,333, dated October20,1863.

.To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, WILLIAM DAvIs, of Tamaqua, in the county ofSchuylkill and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and'usefulMusical Instrument; and I do hereby declare that the following is afulland exact description thereof, reference being had i tothe accompanyingdrawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making a partvof this specication.

arrangement and combination of two or more horizontal bows operating atright angles' across two or more sets ot' strings, arranged with theirstops and couplers so as to produce the fine tones and musical sounds ofthe harp and violin by the operation ot' keys set in a finger-board.

Figure l represents a perspective view of the outside of the'instrument, which is a foursided case or box resting upon four or morelegs. Fig. 2 represents a sectional view ofthe instrument. Fig. 3represents thelever upon 'which the strings rest. Fig. 4 represents theupper operating hair-bow and its frame Fig. 5, the lower operatinghair-bow and its frame. To enable others skilled iu the art to make anduse my invention, I, will proceed to describe its construction andoperation.

A represents the square case, as seen at Fig. l, having two side boxesor extension-wings, B, which allow the guides C of the frame of thebowDto operaiein and move backward and forwardto regulate their mot-ionaccurately, and that the case A need not be extended to an oblong shapeor unnecessary length at each. side.

E represents the finger-board or 'arrangement of keys E, whichisintended to contain y about sxoctaves, more or less.

F is the treadle which operates thecrank G,

*.that has a ily-wheel, H, on the outside of the crank to facilitate themovement of the treadle and' crank.

I represents the lever, as shown at Fig. 3,

` its front end being perforated, so as not to muftle the sound madebythe vibration of the strings. Its front end is curved and operates ona pivot or hinge, J, resting'upon a drum, V, as a sounding-board. It hasa bridge, K, covered by an arch, L, upon which the strings M rest. Thislever I is made square, ot'wood, as light as possible, and has its backend tato the turn-pins T, attached Vboard with its cleat W, communicatevtheir pered round to where it is connected with the lifterN, and itsupward and downward motion is regulated by the aperature P, as a guidein the bridge Q and aperture It, through the frame S. The upright lifterN is connected with the horizontal key E ofthe ringerboard, as seen atFig. 2. The strings M are attached to the frame 'S, passing over thebridge Q and the arch L, and are tightened l in front by the turn-pinsT. There are to be The nature ot' my Invention consists 1n the l twosets or rows ot' strings, one above the other. The drum V, upon whichthe lever I operates and rests, is an angular-shaped box, correspondingwith the length of the sca-le of strings, and occupies a space the samelength and width of each set of strings, and is located under thestrings as a sounding-board, so as to give sound to the vibration ofthestrings. It tapers from the bass to correspond with the tone of thestrings. There are two drums, one for each set of strings. There will beone, two, or three strings, M, to each lever I', and the strings, beingfastened to the sliding vibrations and sounds to the drum V by thepressure of the cleat W against the front end of drum V, which cleat Wsupports the front end of the drum, while the rear end ot' drum V restsin the frame S.

D represents the upper horse-hair bow, as seen at Figs. 2 and 4,attached to arms Y, and operating, with its upright movable frame Z,

across the instrument, back and forward, the4 bow moving above the upperset of strings. The lower bow, a., moves in an opposite direction fromthat of the upper bow, D, above the lower set ot' strings, M, their.frames Z being propelled by the crank G underneath, whose arms care setone-quarter of the circle of the shaft distant from each other, 'so asto give an alternate motion to the frames Z. The lower parts ot' frame Zopera-te in grooves 0r guides d in the bottom of the case A.

e represents an octavestop working horizontally, having an uprightlever, f, with the stop g at top, which presses upon the string M as thehandle e is pushed forward.

h represents the handle, which is connected. to the lower corner of amovable board, t', which I call the coupler,) suspended at the top bypins or hinges tothe frame S. By pressing the handle h thecoupling-board i is forced back,"together` with the lower lifteril',dand the upper lifter N is lthen allowed to move up and downindependently,whieh'admits the upper lrow or set Y. of strings M to beplayed v upon only to facilitate the tuning 'of the instru'- inent,andby drawing forward vthe handle h the two lifters'N are then ageincoupled and operate on both levers I.

` j represents a common swell-stop, that by v pressing upon the treadleits uprightlever k A strings the instant the lever I falls, as thefinger is 'removed `from the key E. The'keys E' are kept in their placesby the pressure of the strings M upon the arch L, lwhich keeps the leverI and lifters N down, thus dispen's' ing with the use ot weights andspringslcommonly used on piano-keys.

To operaie the instrument, the keys E aie pressed upon by the fingers oftheperformer,

while the treadle F is `acted'lon bythe foot,

the' tealeoperauug uw 'crank e', by whichy the frames Z of the upper andlower bows are propelled in an opposite direction to each other, fromright to-left and back, and the pressure upon the proper keys, E, raisesthe lifters N, and the levers I raising the proper strings, M,.untilthey come in contact with the hair-bows, when the cross movement of thebowtntouehing the strings, and produce the vibration, sounds, and tonesrequired, according to the pressure upon the keys, for'the shortest orlongest sound in mus.c, similar in duration to thatof an organ.

' The strings are tunedby the turn-pins T in Vmanner similar to the.tuning of the strings of a harp: l

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is`

The arrangement of twojor more horizontal j sliding bows operatingA upontwo or more sets of strings. with their' levers I, lkeys E, lfters N,coupler i, treadle F, and crank G,

with ily-wheel H, arranged, combined, and operated as herein described,for the purpose of producing. the musical sounds of the'harp WM.yDAvi-s. n

and violin.

' Witnesses: J. FRANKLIN REIGAR-T,

B. DILLENBERG.

